Musings (2010)

for Flute Choir and Percussion

5:30 • published by ALRY Publications

Performance: The Ohio State University Flute Troupe | Conductor: Katherine Borst Jones

PROGRAM NOTES

Written for a great friend, Katherine Borst Jones, Musings is Roger Cichy’s first work for flute choir although not his first piece for flute.  While not a long work, this piece is a set of mini-movements in E-flat that begins with a thematic motive contrived using both the major and minor 3rds of the tonic triad, though enharmonically spelled.  The opening section, or mini-movement if you will, fluctuates between monophonic and homorhythmic textures as to approach this material in both a horizontal and vertical fashion.  The following mini-movement incorporates a melodic fifth, which becomes paramount for much of the remainder of the work.  In this section, the pieces shifts in texture and becomes polyphonic with each layer being added each six-measure (or twenty beat) phrase.  The following mini-movement branches off into a homophonic texture with its melody based largely on the mixture of a Hungarian major and minor scale with its most predominate feature, the raised 4th scale degree.  With its dance-like melody, this section relies on driving underpinnings in its harmonic accompaniment. After a return to the polyphonic section with its additive layers, the piece progresses into a portion that serves more as a developmental transition into a slower mini-movement where a piccolo is featured in a lyrical setting.  The piece concludes with a return to the dance-like section that is capped off with its final statement played at a very fast (presto) tempo.

INSTRUMENTATION

Flute Choir: Piccolo, Flute 1 - 4, Alto Flute 1 & 2, Bb Tenor Saxophone, Eb Baritone Saxophone

Percussion: Percussion 1 (snare drum, tom, bongos, maraca, triangle, finger cymbals, Percussion 2 (wood block, vibraslap, tom, claves, sand blocks, tambourine, sleigh bells)